I already have
by Brutaka12000
Summary: Just because you're race is an outcast in society, that doesn't mean everyone hates you. Just because you live in a suit, that doesn't mean there isn't someone who can look past that. Just because you can't touch them, that doesn't mean you can't love them. A story about a Shepard x Tali romance spanning the OT
1. Chapter 1

_**Author note:**_

 _ **So... yea hi. So this is my first time making a story on FanFiction, in fact, doing something out of my comfort zone in a long time. I'm not trying to give any "rate my thing five stars or else I cry myself to sleep" or something like that crap, just saying go easy on the new guy alright? I appreciate you for taking the chance with me and any comments/feedback on what I could better, more of, just whatever, would be much appreciated**_

 _ **So anyway this is a Tali x Shepard(M) who is paragon (I know how original), and um enjoy:)**_

 _ **Much love. Brutaka12000**_

Chapter 1: The start of a long ride

"L-look, I don't know anything I swear" Fist squeaked out. his wide eyes focused on the massive Krogan right next to the Shepard.

"Uh-huh" was all Shepard said, nodding slightly to the Krogan, the Krogan shoots next to fist, really close Shepard notes "The next shot's on you if you don't spit out where the Quarian is"

"You promise you won't shoot me if I tell you right?" Fists eyes look to the only exit in the room, blocked by a Turian leaning on the door frame, what must be a smug smile forming on his mandibles as he notices Fist looking.

"Yes, you're skimpy ass won't get shot by me if you hurry up and tell me where that damn Quarian is!" Shepard grabs Fist by the plate protecting his neck, holding him closely, face to face to each other.

"Alright, just get your hands off of me" Shepard pushes Fist back, who has a victories smile on his lips. "look she wanted to see the Shadow Broker in person, no one has, not even me. but she didn't know that, and Saren is paying heavily for that information. So when she gets there, it's not gonna be the Shadow Broker, it's gonna be Saren's men waiting to take her away."

"Where is she" Shepard seethes through clenched teeth, he wanted to punch Fist in his face, but knew better than to do that right now, he'd probably crumble under it

"Oh shes at the alleyway on the way to the wards" Fist puts on a very big smile "but you won't get there in time, Saren's men will be there any minute now"

On hearing this Shepard moves to full gear "move it, we need to get to her before Saren's men do" he turns around but the whir of the shotgun to his side draws his attention

"Wait wha-" was all Fist could say before a shotgun blast tore through his skull, dead before he hit the ground.

Shepard eyed the Krogan, waiting for an explanation. "You didn't shoot him, and I complete my bounties" he said. Shepard sighed, he should've known this was going to happen. Wrex did say he was an agent of the Shadow Broker, contracted to kill Fist for betraying the Broker

"We gotta go Shepard" Garrus, the Turian, he was now over Fist's body, picking up a device from his body

Shepard nodded, putting the death of Fist as his own for his negligence. they ran out of Fist's room and back to the bar he owned, Chora's Den, which was now swarming with Fist's thugs

His team dispatched the poorly trained thugs with ease and were now running out to find that Quarian before it was to late

* * *

"Where's the Shadow Broker? Where's Fist?" Tali eyed the Turian warily, she tried to sound as menacing as possible, but her body language betrayed her. She was unconsciously wringing her hands together, something she always did when nervous. She just wanted some piece and quiet, some time to think through everything that has happened, and for that she needed this data gone.

"Don't worry babe, they'll be here soon" he put his hand on her shoulder and started to slide it down "do you have the data?"

Tali knew it was trapped, but did she? she's been fighting for her life for so long now, she could be just paranoid right now, they could be just late knowing Citadel traffic. No, she's survived this far trusting her gut, she wasn't going to stop know. she slaps the hand off her "No way, the deals off"

The Turian flicked his head and the two Salarians he came with started to bring out their guns. Tali knew it was over, her pilgrimage training didn't train her to defeat three well-trained men all by herself, but she won't go down quietly. she threw one of her concussion grenades towards the Salarians and ducked to cover, before it went off she heard the door behind open up. ' _a bit overkill to kill just one Quarian isn't it_ ' she thought. The grenade went off as she turned to face her new threat, pulling out her shotgun. She did not expect a Krogan, a massive Krogan, to be charging right at her.

She was so stunned that she forgot to shoot her shotgun, luckily for her the Krogan ran right past her, forgetting about the other enemies that could possibly be behind the Krogan she turned to look where he went. He seemed to be aiming for the two downed Salarians, who were just now starting to get up, the Krogan lifted one of his hands up and a purple aura appeared around him, a Biotic _._ The two Salarians were lifted into the, affected by the Biotics to have no gravity, the Krogan blasted one with his shotgun then rammed the other, crushing him against a wall, the Krogan never seized to stop laughing Maniacally

The Turian started to run away but a deep 'thoom' sounded and he dropped to the floor, Tali looked at the direction of the sound and saw another Turian putting his sniper rifle away. It all happened so fast, Tali was still didn't understand it all. She looked at the Krogan, nudging the dead bodies with his foot, one twitched and he instantly shot him. Should she trust these people who saved her life? Or were they just another player in a game to big for her, going to take her away all because of this damned data

"Hey are you alright?" Tali jumped, she turned around and saw a Human male looking at her, he had a reassuring smile telling her that everything was okay, her body instinctively calmed upon seeing it but her brain remained tense, she saw that same smile from Fist when he set up the meeting, but this one felt... real to her.

"Fist set me up, I knew I shouldn't have trusted him" but her life in the Flotilla made her trust everybody, ' _your in the real world know Tali'_ she thought _'you can't trust everybody, they'll always have their own agenda for helping you'_ she eyed the human warily. "who are you and why are you helping me?"

His shoulder stiffened "I'm Commander Shepard of the Alliance marines, N7 rank" he said it all with pride, _'N7?, i should look that up, he seems to think it's important'._ "as to why I'm here, i'm trying to find evidence that Saren is a traitor"

And there it was, Tali was all of a sudden the most important Quarian because of this data, important enough to kill it seems, Saren would not stop hunting her, until either she was dead, or he died. And judging from the audio file she has and the news feed of Eden Prime, Saren deserves to die, and these people were trying to stop him. She must help them, not just for her sake, but everyone else as well

"Yes, i have evidence that Saren is a traitor, but we can't stay here, we need to go somewhere safe" Tali hoped it was convincing. Truth was, she didn't trust these people and would rather not be in a dark alley stuck between a Krogan and a hard place.

"Commander, why don't we go to the Human embassy, they would want to see this as well" the Turian said curtly

"Sounds good" Shepard said already walking, and Tali reluctantly followed

* * *

Shepard eyed the Quarian in the cab. It was difficult to convince the driver to allow both a Krogan and a 'suit-rat' as the driver called her, in the cab, but with enough credits he finally complied.

"So what's your name?" he said to the Quarian, she seemed to be staring off into the distance at the moment with the occasional few pushes on her omni-tool, so he decided to start conservation

"Huh, oh it's Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya" she said

"Nar Rayya?" he always liked to learn about new species and people, growing up on the streets made him curious of the outside world

"Yes" she said suspiciously, he couldn't blame her, he also would be considering the circumstances but she continued on "the Rayya is the name of the ship I was born in, basically nar Rayya means 'born on Rayya', once we complete our pilgrimage we join another ship so now instead of nar Rayya it would become vas Rayya, well whatever ship I decide to join anyways"

"Whats this about a pilgrimage?" upon hearing this Tali sighed, pressed a few buttons on her omni-tool, and Shepard saw her helmet visibly become dimmer, ' _Oh crap'_ Shepard thought _'she actually was doing something and I interrupted her.'_ He decided it would best to let her continue with whatever she was doing "Oh, I'm sorry I didn't realize you were doing something"

"No, it's okay, I was just... uh... looking you up" she was wringing her hands now and upon seeing Shepard's wide grin, realized how she made it sound "L-looking up your service record, seeing if you were... well you."

"Ah... okay, you know you didn't have to say what you doing." she started to wring her hands furiously now, her head looking down, Shepard found out he was making it worse. so he put on his best comforting smile "but thanks, for telling me"

Tali looked out the window _'_ _probably is wondering when it's going to end... wait when is it going to end.'_ "hey I said we needed to get there quick!" Shepard yelled at the driver, he didn't even see any traffic beside him.

"Sorry sir, but there's a designated lane for all cabs with Krogan in them going to the Presidium" Wrex chuckled at that. Shepard looked forward and saw the large detector in front of them and several C-sec officers checking another car in front of them

"If it makes you feel any better commander" Garrus said from the front seat "they've been there for about 20 minutes now, should be any minute before they're allowed through"

* * *

Shepard has just become the first Human Spectre, the Councils right hand, he was now above the law. But most importantly he was now able to stop Saren from destroying anymore Human colonies like Eden Prime, and stopping the return of whatever these 'Reapers' are.

"Well I guess this is goodbye Garrus" Shepard gathered his squad around the the fountain just before the elevator taking them down the Citadel tower and back to the Presidium. And it was now time to say farewell to his squad, as they weren't actually part of the crew of the Normandy, and even though he was growing fond of them, he wasn't going to take them away from their jobs, journey,bounty hunting if they didn't want to.

"Commander, if you would allow it, I would like to join you". Shepard raised an eyebrow at that, Garrus took the silence as a sign for him to continue. "You've already shown you get things done commander, and now you're a Spectre, you can deal with the situation however you want. Frankly commander I'm tired of all the red tape that stops me from doing my job, joining you would mean I actually can stop somebody for a change, not just sit by filling reports and watch them get away."

"Well, welcome aboard Garrus Vakarian, it would be good to have a crack shot on the team" Shepard now turned to Wrex "Well what about you Wrex?"

"With all the things you squishy's are going to face you need a Krogan on you're team, and it's better than sitting on my ass all day waiting to shakedown some Volus or Salarian... or a human" Wrex chuckling at that

"And you Tali? You still have your pilgrimage to complete"

Tali seemed to think for a moment before seeing all eyes were on her, she straightened herself, forced her hands apart and at her sides "the pilgrimage shows us that we're willing to risk our lives for the greater good, how would this reflect on me if didn't join something as big as this"

"He-heh, knew you would come around Quarian" Wrex proceeded to pat her on the back, hard, shoving her forward. She looked up and saw Shepard giving the widest grin she'd ever seen

"Well team" he said clapping his hands together, looking at them all approvingly, "let's go see what awaits us"


	2. I was curious

**Author note:**

 **Well, this took a while to make, i finished making the chapter but decided i wasn't proud of it, so i scraped it and started anew. Anyway, still on track for my one chapter a week plan. Thank you to everyone who viewed my first chapter, and so without further ado, here is chapter 2**

Chapter 2: I was curious

Shepard was going down the elevator to the hanger and engineering, it's been a few days since he took over command of the Normandy. It's been a pretty rough time, the new Executive Officer, Pressly, was not happy with the new crew members, the same was with the Gunnery chief, Ashley Williams. They both felt that, as the Normandy was an Alliance ship, that there shouldn't be any aliens on board, they felt that they would betray them as their own race had their own agendas. Shepard tried to change their opinions, but they seemed stuck in their ways.

"Maybe it'll just take a while" Shepard muttered to himself. He looked at the tile-like design on the walls of the elevator, trying to discern any visual indicator that he was nearing the end, he soon gave up and started to pace around the little room he had. When it finally stopped he burst out of the door finally able to do what he went down for, to talk to his crew. He liked to get to know his crew, he felt he had a better connection towards them which made them a better squad, and he was naturally curious. He decided to start with Garrus, who was busy working on the Mako. "Hey Garrus, working on the Mako again?"

Garrus got out from under it. "Well maybe if you stopped going over every mountain you see I wouldn't need to work on it." He went to a console, looked at it muttered something to himself about _'you humans, thinking you can go through everything that comes at you'_ , and went back to work. Shepard didn't get it, what else was he supposed to do, go around it? Nah, that's dumb.

"Ah, so you're the reason why the Mako handles like a drunk rhino?" Shepard said with a sly grin.

"Well I don't know what a rhino is, but I'm assuming that since everything that comes from Earth can't hold their liquor that you're saying that it handles bad. And to that I say that it's probably because you can't seem to wrap your brain around that the jump boosts don't make it go faster." Like the boosters were fighting back they abruptly fired, making the Turian curse in his something Shepard's Omni-tool couldn't translate.

"It seems that you've got your... talons full, I'll leave you to it, don't want the Mako it bad shape for tomorrow." He left Garrus, who was busy now on the main cannon, and went to Ashley. She turned, noticing his footsteps.

"How was the chat with the Turian, commander? What information did you get?" Ashley turned back, started to get back to cleaning her sniper rifle.

"Ash, Garrus and I just talked, I wasn't fishing for information." It was funny that her nickname was Ash, she always seemed to darken the mood. "You're going to have to trust them sometime Williams."

"Yea whatever commander, but not right now, I'm cleaning my weapons and need to concentrate." Shepard took that at his sign to leave. He past Wrex, who just said 'Shepard' and went back to silently brooding in the corner of the room. Shepard went to engineering next, to see how Tali was going.

He opened the door to the hum of the Tantulas drive core. The chief engineer, Adams, was looking over Tali, who was crouched under a console, the side of it opened up. Adams turned around, a data pad in his hands, and started walking to another engineer before noticing Shepard. He walked over, putting his data pad away. "Shepard this new Quarian you found is amazing! She's a natural at engineering, in a few weeks I feel that she'll know more about the Normandy then myself." Shepard was happy that Tali was fitting in in engineering, she was the one he was the most worried about being youngest of the people who joined. Shepard asked for a report, and once that was done dismissed him and went to Tali. She was still transfixed on her work, Shepard had to touch her shoulder to get her attention. She jumped at his touch and quickly turned around.

"Oh Shepard! Sorry your ship is so magnificent that I get lost in it at times, there's nothing even close to being as advanced as this in the Flotilla, we use abandoned ships and ships so much in disrepair that they're sold for next to nothing. And your drive core, how did you even fit one this big in a ship so small..." Tali continued to talk about all the ships systems, information that flew out of Shepard's head. He didn't understand any of what she was saying, but he couldn't but smile at seeing her talk on and on about something she most definitely loved. "... Shepard? Oh I'm sorry, everything I said you probably know nothing about. I have a tendency talk when I'm nervous, an er... defense mechanism." Shepard saw now that she was wringing her hands nervously. But he was more worried about why she was nervous, they were just talking right?

"Tali, what are you nervous about?"

"Uh... well, I've seen how some of the crew looks at me, Garrus and Wrex, especially uhm... Ashley. I thought there may be something I didn't know about, like... like I've been doing a bad job and uh... they've asked you to take me off the ship." She put her head down, like she was hiding her face, even though her mask made it so he couldn't see it anyway. "I know it's stupid, and Adams says I've been doing a good job, he's been very nice to me, but... Oh I don't know as I said it's stupid." Shepard put his hands on her hands, she stopped wringing them and looked up at him.

"Tali, you've been doing a fantastic job, I'm not going to kicking you off the ship just because some people don't like the fact that you're not a human. You were crucial in exposing Saren, you've already shown me that you know how to fight, you're a wonder with your Omni-tool. You're staying Tali... well, that is if you want to of course." Shepard did his best encouraging smile.

Tali just looked at him, and after a while she whispered "Thank you." She went to move away but her hands were still enclosed in Shepard's, feeling the tug of her hands Shepard sheepishly let go, scratching the back of his neck, and with an awkward expression on his face, quickly moved away. Tali turned back to her work, but her thoughts were now lost in something else.

* * *

The following days the Normandy scouted the Artemis Tau cluster in search of Dr Liara T'Soni, Matriach Benezia's daughter. Shepard decided this was the most critical mission due to it being related to the Protheans, they didn't know what Dr T'Soni was doing at the cluster, or if she was in league with Saren and Benezia. They finally found in the system Sparta, on the planet Therum.

Shepard gathered up Tali and Garrus and briefed them besides the Mako. "Well then, let's see whats up with this Dr T'Soni" Shepard said as he finished the briefing and proceeded to board the Mako.


	3. What's the password?

Chapter 3: What's the password?

Tali still didn't like dropping from the Mako, she couldn't feel any of the weightlessness thanks to the inertia dampeners, but she still knew she was falling from, by her calculations, really, really, high up. They landed with little more then a thud being heard. The terrain was rocky and they landed really close to a river of lava, luckily there was a way around it. Shepard didn't seem to see that, all he saw was small rock formation that had the appearance of a ramp, a ramp that seemed to be growing closer, because Shepard was going right towards. _'Oh Keelah'_ was all Tali was thinking _'he's actually going to do it'_. The ramp then exploded from a blast from the Mako's main cannon. "We were so gonna make it Garrus" Shepard grumbled, now veering away from the river.

"Well a bit to late now Commander." Garrus sighed through the comms. They were now going around the lava, for which Tali was very thankful of, and were continuing forward. They met resistance in the form of Geth, the main reason Tali was brought along, but they were able to dispatch them with ease. Shepard drove the Mako very haphazardly, driving into the very thick of battle, and into the Geth, making Garrus curse with every bump. Tali had to keep her eyes on all the systems, seeing which areas of the shield around the Mako had to be strengthened and checking if any systems needed to be repaired. They soon had to leave the Mako, activating the Auto-recall system so it could get back to the Normandy, due to a gap in a rock wall that wasn't wide enough for it to fit, despite Shepard's objections that it could.

"Okay team, be careful." Shepard said while they were loading up their gear "They seem to have heavily fortified the area, which means either Dr T'Soni is either with Saren, or she isn't and Saren's gotten here before us, it'll only get harder from here." Shepard took point, with Garrus at the rear with his sniper rifle, Tali had her Omni-tool ready to hack any Geth that got to close. They pushed forward at a slow pace, being wary of any ambushes that could come from over the walls. They finally got to a refinery, where the entrance to the Prothean site was located, there a Geth drop ship appeared dropping down an armature. "Told ya we should've at least tried Garrus." Shepard said while running towards cover, Garrus and Tali got into cover farther out. "I'll draw it's fire." Shepard told them through the comms "Garrus, take shots whenever you can. Tali, disable the gun and any other systems you can." they shouted confirmations. Shepard dove out of cover, drawing the armature's attention allowing Garrus to take shots on the exposed places, Tali had her Omni-tool up, trying to get through the firewall of the armatures systems. Tali was so focused on her Omni-tool that she didn't see the Stalker variant of the Geth climbing above her, the sound of it's laser charging drew her attention, Tali started to draw her shotgun out but it would be too late, but before it could finish charging it dropped to the floor. Tali looked back and saw Garrus turning back to fire at the armature, she was able to disable the armatures main cannon and now it was easy, they quickly finished it off. They regroup at the entrance to the ruins.

"Tali, good work with the gun. They seem to be heavily defending the area so at least we know it's the right place, so I guess it's time to enter the ruins." Shepard set off, Garrus and Tali following closely behind. It was mostly uneventful going down, just a few more pockets of Geth. They finally came upon Dr T'Soni who seemed to be trapped in a bubble.

"Hello? Can you hear me? I'm trapped and need help!" She screamed, Shepard approached her.

"I'm guessing you're Dr T'Soni, so tell me are you in league like your mother with Saren and the Geth?"

She widened her eyes at that. "I haven't been in contact with my mother in years, I didn't even know anything about her joining that group. As for the Geth, they are the reason I'm trapped in the first place, A Krogan said to follow him, that someone wanted to talk to me, but upon seeing the Geth that accompanied him I knew I needed to escape. I went to this console and activated the security systems, but sadly I panicked and trapped myself as well. They've been trying to get inside but nothings been working so far, please you have to help me, I promise I have nothing to do with any conflict that is happening outside." With that they set off further down to see if there was any way in. They found a Geth camp, and one Krogan.

"Finally!" He shouted "I've been itching to kill somebody for way to long" He roared and charged at them, Shepard charged as well. As they got close Shepard dodged sideways, the Krogan, expecting an to have already hit him, slowed down and turned to face him. Tali overloaded his shields allowing Garrus to take a shot, hitting the ankle of the Krogan's leg, making him drop to the floor before he could react. Shepard pounced on him and fired every bullet he could into the Krogan's face.

As he climbed off the Krogans body Garrus approached. "What were you thinking commander? Pulling a move like that, we weren't even prepared, you would've gotten killed if we didn't react."

Shepard hopped of the body and looked at Garrus. "So you were just going to stand there and do nothing? I knew you were going to help, I trusted you and Tali to do what needed to be done. I shouldn't need to control you Garrus in order for you to help, all I need is for you to trust me in what I do. We're a team Garrus, I know that you guys will be there when I need you."

"Of course commander" Garrus said, putting his arms behind his back. "It was just different in the Turian military and C-sec, we were to only follow protocol and orders from our superiors, we weren't allowed to innovate and take initiative, just be another drone among thousands"

"Well we're not there now are we? I expect you to be able to do what needs to be done, what you think is best, and if you have any objections to what I say then I want to know, we got that clear?"

"Yes commander." With that they began to search the camp, they passed a mining drill and saw it needed a password, Shepard decided not to risk letting Tali hack it yet, it was brought in with the Geth so who knows what type of hacking countermeasures it had. They continued searching the camp and found a data pad inside a tent. _'Krax, since you can't seem to get your Pyjak brain to remember, the code for the drill is SWEN. If you forget where this datapad is then you won't have a brain left.'_ Finding the code and nothing else at the camp they returned to the drill and activated it, it broke through the lower chamber of the ruins allowing access to an elevator that took them to where Dr T'Soni was trapped, with her directions they where able to disable the security.

"Thank you for freeing me... uh pardon, but I don't even know your na-" A loud rumbling from the cavern interrupted. "I believe that the mining drill has caused the mine to start collapsing, we need to get out of here." They ran towards the elevator and Dr T'Soni made it go towards the top floor, there another Krogan waited for them.

"So you're the one making stuff exciting, wouldn't expect a human to be able to do such a thing being so squishy. And since you nearly made it out you must've killed Krax, I would normally commend you for that, now I would at least get someone worthy of my presence, but Saren want's the doctor, and you dead, so hear we are. Geth, Attack!" The Geth behind did not attack, instead they trained their guns on the Krogan, gunning him down and after that, exploded. Shepard turned and saw Tali putting away her Omni-tool, he was about to say something but another rumble reminded him of the more present matter.

"Let's move people!" They started to run towards the exit. Dr T'Soni, who was still not used to walking after so long, much less run, tripped over with a yelp. Shepard rounded back, scooped her up then continued to run back towards the exit. They barely made it out before the entire mine collapsed, Shepard put Dr T'Soni down then contacted the Normandy to pick them up. He turned to Tali "Nice work with those Geth Tali." He patted her on the shoulder.

"Thank you commander, all Quarian's get trained to combat the Geth, it's nothing any other Quarian would be able to do."

"Still, if we didn't have you there that could've been a much harder fight." He saw the Normandy pulling in. "Well looks like our rides here, I'm assuming you would want to rest Dr T'Soni?" She nods in agreement. "Guess the next place we'll be going is Feros, we should save those colonists if we can."


	4. Curiosity killed the chat

**Authors note: So... yea, I'm back. I feel like I should say something, but, well, yea I don't know what to say. So sorry this took so long to come out, uh..., yea I'm not gonna say anything else so bye :/**

Chapter 4: Curiosity killed the chat

They had a quick meeting with the crew, discussing what they were going to do next. They decided to follow up on Admirals Kahoku's cooridinates and see what was up with this group 'Cerberus'. the crew dispersed, most going back to the mess hall, Shepard went to his cabin, switched to his Alliance uniform then went to the mess hall to get something to eat. He exited out his room to see his squad all eating together, excluding their newest member Liara T'Soni who was resting in the storage room in the med bay, Shepard decided to get some mac'n'cheese and sit with them, facing away from Dr Chakwas so she couldn't she his... questionable choice in food. No one was talking so Shepard decided to start, "Hey Garrus, whatcha eating?" Pointing to the plate in front of Garrus that held some sort of paste.

"It's Turian nutrient paste, standard issue for all Turians on ships." Garrus wasn't looking towards Shepard but more to his food, that had a string of cheese coming out of his mouth.

"Oh come on Garrus, you haven't seen human food before?" Shepard looked around and saw Tali visibly looking away from where he was eating, even Wrex, who was sitting with no one opposite or beside him, seemed to be eyeing his food as some kind of threat, his mouth in a half snarl while he furiously ate what used to be a Varren, Kaiden and Ashley who were sitting on the same side as him were quietly eating, Kaiden with a steak and Ashley with a sandwich.

"It's not that I haven't seen human food before commander, it's just this food that you have is so... so...-"

"Stringy!" Tali shouted out, though she immediately looked down, putting her hands together, but she continued. "It's just so stringy, are you meant to eat something that stretches so much? What is it even made out of for that to happen?" Shepard grinned and started talking all about Earth, mostly sticking with the topic of cows and milk, but occasionally going off track. Tali listened intensely to everything he, and occasionally Kaiden, said about Earth, who were now just talking about anything and everything. Ashley quickly finished her food and left to continue with her work. They motioned for Garrus to talk about his home world, Palaven, but before getting to much into it, Wrex interrupted, saying that "You guys don't want to hear the sappy tales of these boneheads, what you need are some Krogan tales." So Wrex talked about Tuchanka, but mostly about his own adventures, like being the latest Krogan who killed a Thresher Maw in his rite of passage. Shepard was having a great time, but there still wasn't one person who hasn't talked.

"So Tali, tell us about your home w-" Crap, he totally forgot that Tali's home world was taken over by the Geth over 600 years ago. He looked at Tali her head was down and her hands were under the table "I'm sorry Tali, I didn't mean to -"

Tali interjected "No, it's fine Shepard... really... I uh I need to go back to engineering... to um clean the engine." She quickly nodded, stood up, and left. Everything was quite except for the noise of the elevator door opening, then closing. Finally Shepard let out a sigh, Kaiden shook his head and left.

"I should go, and say something." Shepard said to the last two people there, Garrus simply nodded.

"You don't upset females" said Wrex. So Shepard left, leaving his barely eaten mac'n'cheese behind.

* * *

Tali sat in one of the corners of the elevator, she wasn't crying, more just... distant. Everyone was talking so much about their home world's and the mention of her's made her remember, she's never set foot on her's, she hasn't even seen it with her own eyes, all she had were vids of it on the migrant fleet, now not even that. She sighed, she shouldn't of left, she should've just stayed there and laughed it of, now she'll be seen as over emotional and everyone would be scared to say something to her lest she get upset, she'll be the small little girl that everyone pampers and tries to keep happy. She could, should, go back up and apologize for overreacting, just go back and talk about the Migrant Fleet rather then her home world, she looked at the big green button, inviting her to press it and clean up this mess. She stood up and walked over to it, and the elevator stopped, she was at engineering. The door slowly opened to the hanger bay, she noticed Ashley over at the work bench, working on her body armor, which was slightly levitating above the bench, Ashley was focused on typing commands on her omni-tool, she cursed and tried to slam her hand down on her armour which just made her hand bounce away before it even hit it. Tali saw the problem, the kinetic barriers of the armor has been overloaded, but instead of overloading the core for the barriers, it locked it up, making it the barriers stay on at all times. It was an easy fix, if you knew what to do and how to do it, which it seemed Ashley did not, but Tali did. Tali walked over to Ashley who was leaning over the bench now, "Uh... do you want any help?" Tali knew Ashley wasn't... nice to the aliens on board so she was cautious with what she was saying.

"I don't know Quarian, do I need help from the people who made this whole mess happen, are you going to attach a flashlight on it's head and call it a day while it tears the ship apart!" Tali recoils backward as if hit, she wasn't expecting that much hostility towards her, she should probably just leave before it get's any worse then this. Ashley upon seeing Tali turn to leave, sighs. "Look Tali I'm sorry, it's been hard fighting the Geth" She looks down, remembering her squad that got decimated by the Geth on Eden prime, with her being the only survivor. "When you came along you just seemed like a perfect target to vent my frustration towards, I didn't mean any of it. So yes, I do need help on this damn armor" slamming her fist on the bench now. "It's been like this since the last mission I was on and I can't seem to find a way to switch it off." Tali cautiously stepped back towards Ashley.

"Yes, well the problem is that your barrier has overloaded..." Tali explained the situation to Ashley and what she had to do to fix it, when finally Ashley was able to deactivate the barrier she screamed in delight.

"Finally! Thanks Tali for the help, but you're sure this won't become alive and stab me while I'm inside it right?" She grinned, but saw that Tali was slightly edging away from her. "Ugh, I'm just yanking your chain Tali" Tali stopped but slightly tilted her head. "Um...-" Ashley sighed "Just means I'm teasing you Tali, I don't mean it."

"Oh, um yes of course, it was a funny... joke." The sound of the elevator door saved her and Shepard came out.

"Hey Tali, Ashley." He nods to Ashley before diverting his attention back to Tali. "So yea, I came to say sorry for saying what I said, I should've remembered and sorry for ruining your mood." He scratches the back of his head, smiling sheepishly.

"Oh It's alright Shepard, I'm over it by now. Um... why don't I tell you about the migrant fleet instead? It's the closest thing I have to a home world anyway." She fidgets with her hands nervously, hoping he'd say yes so she can change that image of being the emotional little girl to something different.

"That sound's great Tali, but maybe not down here, I've barely eaten anything." He stepped to the side to allow Tali to pass through him to get on the elevator, then stepped inside himself.

"Well, bye Ashley." Tali said looking over at her, Ashley cast a disapproving glare at her, she was back to her hostility towards Tali, and mumbled "Yea whatever." Then went back to the work bench, picking up her sniper rifle and started to dismantle it.

The elevator door closed and started it's ascent up. "Oh, okay." Tali said in respond to what Ashley said, she thought they were getting along at least a bit, but it seems not.

"Oh yea sorry about that, ruining the mood with you and Ashley. She was the same when she saw Liara." His head moves down and he swings his foot making it scrape on the floor

"Oh why is that?" Is it because she doesn't like him being with aliens, or some other reason with Liara? But then it wouldn't make sense with her...

"Yea I think it's jealousy, um I caught her sister saying that I was um handsome." He coughs lightly. "And she hasn't been the same ever since, which is why she doesn't like me talking to you, or Liara."

Tali was still confused about why she would be annoyed with her. "But why me?"

"Well she thinks I like you Tali, as in more then friends." Shepard says this with a shrug. "To be honest I've never even thought about it." He chuckles lightly and Tali can't help but smile inside her helmet. ' _Me, with Shepard? That's ridiculous, we don't even share the same amino acids.'_ Now she joins in with Shepard, laughter bursting through her at the ludicrous thought, and she decided to try something.

"Wait Shepard, are you saying I'm ugly?" Shepard immediately stops laughing.

"Wh- what? I never said that, I didn't mean to offend you I just meant-"

"Relax Shepard, I'm just... yanking your chain." Tali laughs now, unable to control herself at seeing Shepard's wide eyed expression, his mouth still open trying to apologize to her. It finally dawns on him, and he also starts to laugh, slowly at first, but it soon goes full throttle and they continue to laugh for the rest of the elevator ride.

 **Another Note: Yea this was originally going to be about a confrontation between Ash and Tali, as Tali spends a lot of time in engineering and yadda yadda yadda racist stuff. Then I realized, that's not Ash. So yea scraped that to make this. upon writing this note I now don't know why I actually decided this needed to be said, but I'm gonna leave it in here because... yea someone might want to know. Also might as well say, I could not find anything that said about showers on the SR-1, so does like nobody take showers or something? IDK I just assume it's somewhere you can't get to, but anyway, didn't include Shep taking a shower just in case. Also "Why'd you choose mac'n'cheese?" why not I say, seriously I couldn't think of something to choose and decided with that. Well this note(s) got quite long.**


End file.
